Campaign Clips for 8 August 2004

I'll make this a semi-regular blog feature for the next few months. I was considering doing a daily link to Kerry from a block on the left side of the page layout, and a daily link to Bush from a block on the right side, but the right side is (purposely) wider than the left and that wouldn't be fair. So, I'm dividing the center pane right down the middle ;-)

Kerry - Edwards

Bush - Cheney

Kerry-Edwards Campaign Spokesperson Chad Clanton released the following statement today in response to the President’s Radio Address: “George W. Bush keeps telling us 'we've turned the corner.' But yesterday's anemic job growth numbers proved otherwise. Now he's telling us we're turning the corner on homeland security, but we have so much more to do to protect our ports, our rails and our chemical plants. America can do better.” Full story Today was the day of the annual Coast Guard Parade in Grand Haven Michigan--Coast Guard City, USA. In a week in which John Kerry has pointed out George Bush's failures in defending the country from terrorist threats, and others tried to distort Kerry's military record, it was fitting that a replica of John Kerry's Swift Boat was included in the Coast Guard Parade. Full story

It's not just us wondering why John Kerry and John Edwards would vote to send our troops to war, and then vote against funding them. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) recently said the same thing, criticizing Kerry's "yes" vote on the war, and "no" vote on funding the troops. Feingold takes on the Kerry/Edwards claim that they were was protesting the Iraq policy, saying Kerry's position was ineffective: U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold is criticizing his party's presidential nominee for voting to go to war in Iraq and then voting against the $87 billion to pay for it. Feingold, a Democrat from Middleton, said John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, should have voted "no against an unwise war, and yes to support the troops," as he did. ... "And I realize that he (Kerry) voted against the $87 billion because this thing was falling apart, and he wanted to continue to show the disagreement over the war, but really the only vote of any consequence was the vote on the war," he told the newspaper. Full story

Don't you love it when your apponent makes your point for you? I totally agree with Bush-Cheney. Knowing what we know now, Kerry definitely should have voted against the war. Trouble is, he didn't know what we know now. Whose fault is that? It's the Executive branch that provides intelligence information to Congress, not the other way around.

As for Kerry's vote against the $87 billion, let's not forget that President Bush himselfthreatened to veto the same $87 billion at one early point in development of the bill, so his accusations against Kerry for voting against the final version after supporting an earlier version ring hollow. Pretending that partisan politics should have been kept out of a vote to fund the troops is just plain disingenuous.